Novel – 380 pages – 1981 / my edition paperback (1987), bought for £2 from Barbican Second Hand Book Shop sometime in 2005
- 3 nods out of 5 -
A few years ago when at the age of twelve, I returned home from a family event and caught the second half of a movie which fascinated me. It detailed the life of an American family who for some reason – mysterious, as I missed the beginning – were located in what was presumably the rain-forest carrying ice to the natives. That film was The Mosquito Coast, staring River Phoenix and Harrison Ford. However, I didn’t know this at the time – there being no listings to tell me so – and therefore for years afterwards I would accost people at parties or other social gatherings, outlining the plot of the film in the hope that they could tell me its name. Eventually, Brian was able to muster the words from his lips: ‘The Mosquito Coast’.
I bought the book, read the first 100 pages, then promptly forgot about it (as happens, from time to time, if derailed from reading a novel). Now, it was time to finish my quest of Theroux’s novel.
The plot – other than ice being carried to natives – concerns the adventures of the Fox family; Allie Fox (Ford in the movie) is an ingenious inventor, yet is sick of America and the “vultures” that have infested it:
‘We eat when we’re not hungry, drink when we’re not thirsty, buy what we don’t need, and throw away everything that’s useful. Don’t sell a man what he wants – sell him what he doesn’t want. Pretend that he’s got eight feet and two stomachs and money to burn. That’s not illogical – it’s evil’ (p.83-84)
Deeming himself ‘the vanishing American’ (p.68), Fox takes his family to Central America to begin afresh, to make their own Garden of Eden. His inventions stun the natives but things start to turn sour and they are forced to abandon their community due to the threat of invaders, setting in a trend of misery and an ominous horizon.
The novel is told through the eyes of Fox’s son, Charlie (Phoenix in the film), who begins in awe of his father and what he can achieve, ending the book by rebelling against him for his family’s welfare. Throughout all, Theroux builds the tension, the interest climaxing in the middle of the novel with the explosion of the ice-making machine (labelled by Charlie as ‘Fat-Boy’). Yet it begins to tire towards its end, as the Fox family are forced to up-root and settle down repeatedly as Allie’s dream turns to dust.
If the plot does not sustain to the end, then the creation of Allie Fox surely does; all the characters that the family meet are argued and verbally beaten black and blue by Allie Fox. His constant reaffirmation of man’s power (‘Man is God’) is joined by growing megalomania and insanity, matched with Allie’s always interesting quotes on life.
Theroux’s book is an adventure novel for the vigorous spirit, a travel-logue of sorts - which is no surprise considering Theroux’s many travel books – that takes the reader to another world, with differing ideas, with devastating results. Visit The Mosquito Coast and enjoy the journey.
I bought the book, read the first 100 pages, then promptly forgot about it (as happens, from time to time, if derailed from reading a novel). Now, it was time to finish my quest of Theroux’s novel.
The plot – other than ice being carried to natives – concerns the adventures of the Fox family; Allie Fox (Ford in the movie) is an ingenious inventor, yet is sick of America and the “vultures” that have infested it:
‘We eat when we’re not hungry, drink when we’re not thirsty, buy what we don’t need, and throw away everything that’s useful. Don’t sell a man what he wants – sell him what he doesn’t want. Pretend that he’s got eight feet and two stomachs and money to burn. That’s not illogical – it’s evil’ (p.83-84)
Deeming himself ‘the vanishing American’ (p.68), Fox takes his family to Central America to begin afresh, to make their own Garden of Eden. His inventions stun the natives but things start to turn sour and they are forced to abandon their community due to the threat of invaders, setting in a trend of misery and an ominous horizon.
The novel is told through the eyes of Fox’s son, Charlie (Phoenix in the film), who begins in awe of his father and what he can achieve, ending the book by rebelling against him for his family’s welfare. Throughout all, Theroux builds the tension, the interest climaxing in the middle of the novel with the explosion of the ice-making machine (labelled by Charlie as ‘Fat-Boy’). Yet it begins to tire towards its end, as the Fox family are forced to up-root and settle down repeatedly as Allie’s dream turns to dust.
If the plot does not sustain to the end, then the creation of Allie Fox surely does; all the characters that the family meet are argued and verbally beaten black and blue by Allie Fox. His constant reaffirmation of man’s power (‘Man is God’) is joined by growing megalomania and insanity, matched with Allie’s always interesting quotes on life.
Theroux’s book is an adventure novel for the vigorous spirit, a travel-logue of sorts - which is no surprise considering Theroux’s many travel books – that takes the reader to another world, with differing ideas, with devastating results. Visit The Mosquito Coast and enjoy the journey.
